Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Ministers statements: healthcare workforce

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Medical Research) (15:20): I rise today to update the house on how the Andrews Labor government is making sure all Victorians, no matter where they live, have access to the right care at the right time in the right place. Of course this includes regional Victoria. We recognise that you cannot do this without a world-class workforce. We have and will continue to back in our healthcare workers. As the house well knows, we are delivering scholarships to train more than 17,000 nurses and midwives, including 10,000 to make nursing and midwifery free to study. We have got sign-on bonuses across Victoria to make sure that we keep the best and the brightest in our public health system, and we have recruited almost 2000 healthcare workers from overseas, with one in four of those finding a place to work in regional Victoria.

But we recognise that housing for our regional workers continues to be an issue. This is no different in health care. That is why we have invested $4 million to deliver a new student accommodation hub in Maryborough, building on our $100 million investment to redevelop and expand the Maryborough and district hospital. It was so great to be there with the member for Ripon. The member for Ripon opened this accommodation. Meanwhile the member for Ripon and I had the pleasure of turning the first sod on this very exciting redevelopment. What is terrific about the accommodation at Maryborough District Health Service is that it is being funded through our Regional Health Infrastructure Fund – $790 million. Round 8 is now open, and I encourage health services right across rural and regional Victoria to think about the applications that they will make for this round. Our government understands that we need to continue to expand housing options in order to get the – (Time expired)